Top-ranked North Carolina has lost senior guard Marcus Paige, a former Linn-Mar standout, to a broken right hand for three to four weeks.

The school announced Paige's injury Wednesday, saying the preseason Atlantic Coast Conference co-player of the year broke a bone in his non-shooting hand during Tuesday's practice.

Paige, a 6-foot-2 guard from Marion, Iowa, has missed one game through his first three seasons. But the recovery time would sideline him for next Friday's opener against Temple in Annapolis, Maryland, and several games beyond — possibly including his homecoming game at Northern Iowa on Nov. 21.

A roughly four-week absence would have him close to returning for the big Dec. 1 matchup with No. 3 Maryland in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

Paige has led UNC in scoring in each of the past two seasons. Team spokesman Steve Kirschner said in an email that Paige won't require surgery to repair the injury, which came a day after the Tar Heels were voted No. 1 in the Top 25 preseason poll for a record ninth time.

I'm like a kid again, waiting anxiously for the mailman to arrive so I can rip open the letters and see what's inside.

It reminds me of my high school days, waiting for letters from colleges to see if I'd been accepted or not. The University of Michigan finally said yes, after putting me on the waiting list, so that was a great day for the Ecker family.

It also reminds me of my senior year at college, when I wrote all those letters to the Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, New York Times, Yonkers Herald-Statesman and Ann Arbor News to see if they'd give me a job in their sports department. The answers were No, No, No, No and No, so that got a little discouraging.

Finally, one of my journalism professors at Michigan told me that a little newspaper in Fort Madison, Iowa, was looking for a sports editor. It wouldn't pay much at $148 per week and I'd have to cover the Lee County Board of Supervisors and occasional prison breaks -- in addition to a half-dozen high schools and the rodeo -- but I was 22 and anxious to get started.